A Monster Calls (2016) - Box Office Flops

A Monster Calls

Budget: $43 million	Financed by: Participant Media; River Road Entertainment
Domestic Gross: $3,740,823	Domestic Distributor: Focus
Overseas Gross: Still in release	Directed by: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Felicity Jones Sigourney Weaver	Produced by: Belén Atienza

A Monster Calls was co-financed by Participant Media and River Road Entertainment for $43 million. Lionsgate handled pre-sales and took the project to Cannes in 2014 and landed distribution in almost every territory. Focus boarded the pic as US distributor and committed a $20 million minimum for P&A. Focus first dated A Monster Calls for October 14 and then pushed it back a week to the 21st. After very positive audience reactions, the pic was re-dated for a limited awards qualifying run on December 23 and a wide expansion set for January 6, 2017. Things were off to a good start with A Monster Calls, when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and was praised by critics and audiences.

One month later A Monster Calls opened in Spain on October 7 and became director J.A. Bayona’s third box office smash in his home country after The Orphanage (2007) and The Impossible (2012). A Monster Calls took in $28.1 million and was the highest grossing 2016 movie in Spain and that’s where the good news for the picture ends.

Most overseas markets saw a staggered rollout before the end of 2016 and like the expensive Spain productions Alatriste and Agora, which did solid business at home, A Monster Calls saw little interest from auds in almost every country. Outside of Spain, numerous distributors have seen just $11 million in receipts. The current offshore cume stands at $39.7 million. The rollout continues into June. More as the overseas numbers come in…

For the US release, Focus booked A Monster Calls at 4 locations and into a very competitive end of the year market with other award hopefuls. To spread word of mouth, Focus launched screenings of the movie in over 30 markets and landed media partners including AARP and Refinery29. Even with positive reviews and marketing material targeting both kids and adults, all age groups stayed away from A Monster Calls. It was completely lost in limited release and pulled in $30,909 with a troubling $7,727 per screen average. Focus expanded the picture into 1,523 theaters going into its third weekend and it bowed against the wide expansion of Hidden Figures and Underworld: Blood Wars. A Monster Calls was dead on arrival with $2,080,051 — placing outside the top 10 at #12 for the frame led by Hidden Figures and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (also top-lining Felicity Jones). Despite audiences awarding the picture with a fantastic A cinemascore, A Monster Calls posted one of the largest second frame declines on record — plunging 74.2% to $537,262 and then it promptly lost most of its theater count. The domestic run closed with a terrible $3,740,823. Focus would see back about $2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which barely dents the P&A spend.

Rollins
Toby Kebell is a box office poison.
- CynderFanForever
  Not when it came to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
  - Tristan Michels
    And ”Kong: Skull Island”.
    - CynderFanForever
      Skull Island was a success. Every major actor has a success, as well as a flop. It’s just how it works.
      - Tristan Michels
        Exactly. Thanks for that good information.
  - Tristan Michels
    But he was in ”Fant4stic”.
    - Tristan Michels
      But that film, unlike ”Kong:Skull Island”, which got strong reviews from critics and did very well in the box office, got extremely negative reviews from critics and was a huge flop in the box office,
Tyler
And its domestic run has closed as well with $3.7 million.
- BoxOfficeFlops
  Updated. Thanks.
Wayne Turner
Been delayed and yet to open here in Australia.I thought sadly it would go straight to DVD and Blu-Ray here. But,it’s expected to open next week in cinema’s - And I will see it..
The problem with box office takings = No connection on whether a movie is good or not.Plenty of crap are box office successes.While great movies have flopped.Plus,of course some crap,has flopped and deserved to.But,it’s not how to judge a movie.Quality is,and NOT box office takings.
Tristan Michels
I wanted to see this when it came out. The story was very interesting, the CGI effects(which were done by MPC) looked fantastic, despite the film costing only 45 million dollars to make, and I heard it got great reviews from critics and audiences who did see it. Sure, I had to go see ”Hidden Figures” (which by the way, is another fantastic movie) instead, but still. I’m sad that I heard that this film didn’t do well in the box office. It definitely deserved to do better.